DMT and consumed fear

[vortex143]

If a DMT has 2 health and consumed fear is attached should they die when they activate their ability or should the battle phase be completed and then they die?

Because lets say a garg has 0atck and 2 health and that attacks then it dies.

therefore logic says that DMT should die before dmg is given to opposing ally or hero

is it me or is their a lack of consistency and the wording of the card could be improved to indicate when the ally loses there attack/health

[Mojumbo]

Heya,

When you activate Death Mage Thaddeus' ability, it will trigger and resolve dealing 2 damage to the target of your choosing first and then lose 2 health from Consuming Fear afterwards.

The reason attacking will cause an ally bearing Consuming Fear to die before its attack deals damage is because of the order of combat resolution. If we look at page 15 of the rulebook we can see that "on attack" effects such as Consuming Fear's health reduction resolve during step 2.1 of combat. Attacks don't actually deal combat damage to their intended target until step 3 of combat. If an attacking ally dies during step 1 or step 2 of combat it wont ever get a chance to deal combat damage to its intended target. Essentially, combat was interrupted prematurely by the death of the attacker (or defender).

Hope that helps!